The acts of violence that have ignited French nights since Nahel’s death turned irrational on Saturday evening in L’Haÿ-les-Roses. In this town of Val-de-Marne, individuals gathered to denounce the death of the teenager, killed by a policeman during a traffic check, attacked the mayor’s house where his wife and young children were, who have been hurt. An assassination attempt which was piloted “to burn the flag” according to the public prosecutor. Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun (LR), who publicly revealed these facts, received the support of many politicians, who all denounce a despicable act.
What happened at L’Haÿ-les-Roses?
“Last night, a milestone was reached in horror and ignominy”. It is with these words that Vincent Jeanbrun described the attack of which his family was the victim on the night of Saturday to Sunday. According to the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, a ram car was thrown at his home while the elected official was in town hall to monitor law enforcement operations. It was around 1:30 a.m. when the burning car was thrown towards the house. “Trying to protect them and escape the attackers, my wife and one of my children were injured,” said the mayor, denouncing “an assassination attempt of unspeakable cowardice”. According to those around the elected official, the individuals set fire to the ram-car and the family vehicle. “All of this was skillfully orchestrated, without consideration for the lives inside the house,” denounces the mayor’s entourage.
The perpetrators of these facts were put to flight by the police and firefighters, “intervened very quickly”, according to witnesses. In the early morning of Sunday, the mayor’s suburban lodge, guarded by police, bore the scars of the attack, with a broken gate and a fence blackened by flames.
How are the mayor’s wife and children doing?
The family of the mayor of this town of 30,000 inhabitants located ten kilometers from Créteil was able to flee from the back of the pavilion. It was then that the mother would have injured herself.
The couple’s two children, aged 5 and 7, are “very, very shocked” and were taken care of by the emergency services. One of them was slightly injured. As for the mother of the family, she was injured in the tibia and hospitalized.
Where is the investigation?
She is just starting. Opened for attempted murder, the investigation was entrusted to the judicial police. Agents must make findings at the mayor’s home. According to the prosecutor of the Republic of Créteil Stéphane Hardouin, the intention of the perpetrators of violence was “to burn the flag”. “The first findings lead us to assume that the vehicle was launched to burn the flag. An accelerant was discovered in a bottle of coke, “said the magistrate. The latter denounced facts of “extreme gravity”. According to initial findings, the vehicle in flames was “stopped before reaching the veranda of the house, it seems by a low wall, so that only the entrance gate was affected as well as the vehicle of the family “.
So far, no arrests have been made. The individuals who threw the vehicle had already left the scene when the police arrived near the home of the elected official.
What are the reactions?
She denounced “intolerable facts” and gave “her support” to the mayor of Haÿ-les-Roses and his relatives before going there this Sunday. Elisabeth Borne sent a message to the elected official targeted by the attack. The Prime Minister has promised that “the culprits will be prosecuted with the greatest firmness”, Matignon said in a press release. This Sunday, messages of support and condemnation poured in from everywhere. “To attack a mayor is to attack all of us, all citizens. The whole national community must say stop”, pleaded the Minister Delegate for the City Olivier Klein. From Gérald Darmanin to Marine Tondelier (EELV) via Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI), French elected officials have massively supported the mayor of Haÿ-les-Roses.
“To attack the life of an elected official and that of his family is to attack the Nation”, tweeted the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher (LR). “A new milestone has been reached,” said RN MP leader Marine Le Pen on Twitter.